Writing what happened not what you think happened
How to Take Great Field Notes
 Field notes record what you see, hear, touch, and smell
when observing some location or phenomenon. The idea
is to fill the page with details enough that if given to a
movie director, he or she could reconstruct the scene in
vivid detail. This is an important skill no matter what
major or field you go into. For example, in business, if
working on observing a focus group, you want to be able to
observe every nuance and detail or reaction. In the
sciences, you want to notice every possible variable that
may be affecting what you are studying.
 There’s no “correct” way to write field notes, and every
researcher’s notes will look slightly different. However, the
most important things are as follows:
Log the date, time, day, year…
 You should always record the date and time you are
observing and stop observing. If you see a particular
action that catches your attention, it is also a good idea
to record or log the exact time it begins and ends.
Use an annotation system
 Create an annotation system and use it consistently. You
should create a system that helps you record certain things.
For example, when listening to conversations or doing
interviews, you might use quotes “ ” for direct quotations
including any “um” or “uh” you hear. You might use slashes
// for paraphrases or what the gist of what somebody says.
And then use brackets [ ] for things you didn’t understand
or are unsure about hearing. When observing people when
you don’t know names, make sure you give them a short
nickname and always refer to the person by that nickname.
When looking over field notes, too many pronouns
(he/she/they) can be really confusing, so nicknames are
handy.
Use Specific and Descriptive Details
 Specific Details – The hallmark of good field research is clear and specific
details. You never know what is going to be important until you review your
notes, so always record the specific details and not the general descriptions.
For example, this is a poor description that lacks specifics details:

Beth’s dorm room was messy and had clutter all over the floor. She had a couple of pictures on
the wall, her computer on the desk with more clutter, and she had her textbooks scattered on her
bed, desk, and on the shelves.
 Here are better details:

At four o’clock, I observed Beth’s dorm room. There was a Timbuk2 red and white messenger
bag half open on the floor. Three or four pencils and pens and a Biology textbook were sticking
halfway out of the bag. There were also two shirts and a tan pair of Rainbow sandals on the floor.
On the bed were a history textbook and Great Expectations. Her desk had a laptop, a Macbook
Air, and two more books, A Tale of Two Cities and David Copperfield. Also on the desk was a
picture of Beth with a guy with brown hair at the beach. There was a plastic mug on the desk
with Cancun 2014 printed on it.
 I could go on, but you get the picture. We can tell far more about Beth in the
second description than we could from the first description. Also notice I
described the items not as “her” items, because really, I don’t know whose
items they are.
Draw pictures
 Diagrams and sketches – draw pictures, what things look like, where people are
sitting, how they are positioning themselves, and what is in their field of vision.
Draw arrows and stick figures, circles and dashes, whatever visual
representations make sense to you. Also, remember to label your sketches.
 In RL research, never take pictures of people or trademarked places without
expressed written permission from them. In other words, you cannot take
pictures of Chipotle or the people who work there without getting permission
to do so people who you are photographing. You would need to turn this
permission in when you turn in your project (remember, IRB). You can take
pictures of natural phenomenon (e.g. mountains, birds, foxes) without asking
their permission.
Record, don’t interpret
 Record what you see, not what you think – the most difficult skill
to learn is to write what you see not what you think. Don’t write,
“Gunney was happy.” You don’t even want to write, “Gunney
looked happy.” Instead, write, “Gunney loled.” Similarly, don’t
write, “Gunney exercised extreme prejudice on the scorpion.”
Instead, describe the scene: “Gunney approached the corrupted
scorpid and began shooting it with his gun, then his pet bear
attacked.” Additionally, don’t make comparisons or contrasts in
your description. Don’t write, “Gunney was a nub compared to
Gurp.” Just describe what you see.
 Practice this. You will mess this up occasionally, and that is ok.
Even researchers who do this as part of their job mess this one up
sometimes.
Write “cooked notes”
 You write up cooked notes after you have gone home
and are either remembering everything you just saw or
are looking over your field notes. They are “cooked”
because they are your ideas and perceptions of a
phenomenon after they have had time to simmer in
your brain. Cooked notes are the “rough rough draft”
of your study. They are an opportunity for you to start
thinking on paper about the patterns you saw, why
certain things are happening at certain times, and
what the phenomenon you are observing means.
Technology
 The “technology” you use to conduct field research in RL will depend
on your situation. In a participant observer situation in which you
decide to be a line cook at McDonalds for a week, you won’t be able to
set up your laptop, a logbook, and draw doodles. Instead, you will have
to make do with small notebooks you can fit in your pocket. In most
ethnographic situations, writing on the computer can be handy
because it will look like you are doing something else as opposed to if
you were writing on paper. However, the paper offers an opportunity
for you to draw more pictures since drawing a quick sketch or diagram
is difficult with a computer. Just remember to pick a recording
technology appropriate for your situation. And whatever you do, don’t
take pictures or use audio recording devices without expressed written
permission from those you are observing.
Focus your attention
 In any given situation, you will find too much to focus
on, so it is best to pick small areas, 12x12 foot blocks to
watch. You might increase the size of the block as you
go, depending on just how boring that block is.
 Record your senses. Listen, and record what you hear;
watch, and record what you see; smell, touch,
whatever is appropriate.